Dark Web Drug Dealer Caught by FBI in Missouri

This real world scenario played out like a spy novel. The FBI in Missouri have announced that they have busted a man from New York who they caught selling illegal drugs on the dark web.

A saw this share by the FBI in St. Louis of a press release by the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Missouri. It says that John Cruz, 31, of Rochester, New York pled guilty in a Missouri court to one count of conspiracy to misbrand, introduce misbranded drugs and sell counterfeit drugs. The drug in question was counterfeit Xanax. He was caught in the act by a special agent from the FBI who was working undercover. That agent made several purchases using cryptocurrency. The FBI was able to eventually seize $145,502 from Monero which is a cryptocurrency platform.

The FBI in St. Louis indicated that Cruz was caught cooperating with a co-defendant from Kentucky who was caught by the United States Postal Inspectors Office. That defendant pled guilty and was sentenced to 32 months in prison for the same charges as Cruz.

This new bust was a cooperative effort between several law enforcement agencies including FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement according to the information shared by the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Missouri.